The chameleon man

The struggle is over. Vinay Pathak is out to claim his place in the Bollywood sun with a slew of varied character roles

He chewed your brains into shreds in the garb of the bumbling Bharat Bhushan in Bheja Fry. And now he has assumed a completely different avatar8212;of a loud and crass sub-inspector who can8217;t stop mouthing obscenities8212;in the forthcoming Manorama Six Feet Under. As you cringe hearing him speak in a rustic Rajasthani accent, you wonder where Vinay Pathak was hiding all this time. 8220;I8217;ve been in the industry for over 10 years,8221; he says, reading your mind as he settles down for a tete-e-tete.

The actor tasted popularity as a VJ way back in 1998-99 before doing a series of cameos and small roles on the silver screen. And then Sagar Ballary8217;s Bheja Fry happened and gave his career the fillip it desperately needed. 8220;My first film was Deepa Mehta8217;s Fire, where I played a guide. It was a very short role, but I needed it to support my struggle for a better job,8221; he says nonchalantly.

Luckily for him, MTV held auditions. Pathak got through. 8220;House Arrest, my show with Ranvir Shorey, became a hit. It was complete madness on the sets and we were like two naughty boys having a ball while their parents were away,8221; he tells you. Interestingly, the duo will return to the small screen this month with Ranvir, Vinay aur Kaun? 8220;We will hang out with celebrities, ask questions, sing and dance together and intersperse it with gags,8221; he reveals.

The sun may be shining bright on him now, but there was little to cheer about most of the roles he got in the past. 8220;I played a US-returned guy in Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega and started getting similar offers after that. Then I did a police commissioner8217;s role in Jism and the same story was repeated. Though the professions would vary from an inspector to a lawyer, but the character sketch would be almost the same.8221;

Bheja Fry was the rescue act. 8220;I could sense a change after this movie. People started feeling secure casting me in a character role telling a bigger tale,8221; he says candidly. It has been raining offers that are far from the mundane. Pathak has six releases lined up in a brief span of three months this year. Apart from acting as a cop in Manorama Six Feet Under, he will be playing a gambler in Sriram Raghvan8217;s thriller Johnny Gaddar, a henchman in Rajat Kapoor8217;s Mithya and a detective in Arindam Nandy8217;s Via Darjeeling. 8220;I narrate a story on a rainy night in Via Darjeeling, with the listeners trying to give their own conclusion to it. It8217;s a film based on the Bengali concept of adda, where a group of friends share political, social or fictitious thoughts,8221; he says about the movie that8217;s releasing in September end.

Pathak will also be starring in Khoya Khoya Chand, a movie directed by Sudhir Mishra, which is slated to hit the theatres in October. 8220;Soha Ali Khan plays an actor in the 8217;50s and I am one of the three men who shape her life as an actor.8221; But if there is one movie that he is particularly excited about, it is the much-awaited Yash Raj film Aaja Nachle. 8220;I play a middle class man who leads a monotonous life, but it all changes as he gets drawn to theatre.8221;

Even as the film sees Madhuri Dixit returning to the big screen after a hiatus of six years, it will give Pathak a chance to leap out of the small budget movie space. So keyed up is he that the actor can8217;t resist delivering what sounds a tad like all those 8216;thank you8217; speeches you hear at the Oscars. 8220;It8217;s the best cinema experience I8217;ve had so far and it8217;s because of director Anil Mehta8217;s vision, Adi8217;s Aditya Chopra conviction in the cast, Madhuri Dixit and the entire ensemble.8221;

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He may gush about the world of cinema, but surprisingly, acting was not his first love. 8220;I come from Bhojpur in Bihar and I never thought I would be an actor one day. I studied English literature at Allahabad University and wanted to be a teacher. In fact, I was a tutor to board students who would come to me asking for help,8221; he says. Then what took him to the State University of New York at Stony Brook for an MBA degree? 8220;Everybody is allowed to be young and stupid.

My parents wanted me to be successful and an MBA course seemed to be a lucrative option. I was in the top 10 rankers in class and I believed I could be a good salesman,8221; he says. But then one fine day he went to watch Peter Shaffer8217;s play Equus and out of the window went his business and accounts books. 8220;The story touched my soul somewhere and I felt this immediate urge to be a part of that world,8221; he says. Suddenly, the actor in him took over and he dropped out of the MBA program to enroll himself in a Bachelor of Fine Arts course.

And the moment he talks about the time spent brushing his acting skills, you see his eyes light up and his lips curl into a smile. Momentarily, he even seems to forget the ache in his injured groin as he reminiscences about the student days in the US. Any roles that he still remembers?

8220;I pumped gas, bartended at weddings, worked as a receptionist at a cardiologist8217;s office and even dressed up as chicken mascot to earn some extra bucks,8221; comes the prompt reply. Now we know what makes him a pro at character roles.